10 Awesome Movies with Libertarian Messages

October 8, 2014 – I was recently asked to choose some of my favorite films with libertarian messages. Below is a (by no means definitive) list of ten films that provides rich insight into the heart and soul of libertarianism. The criteria? Simply a film containing a libertarian lesson to be learned, whether intended by the filmmakers or not.

Office Space (1999).

Office Space acknowledges the desire of most Americans to be free from the often miserable drudgery of their working lives. Office Space offers a critique of corporate culture and trickle-down conformity, revolving around the emancipation-of-sorts of Peter, an office drone who leaves behind the things that crush his imagination and capacity for happiness. Added bonus: Office Space is especially cathartic for anyone who has ever wanted to take a ball-bat to an office printer. Though this violates the libertarian Nonaggression Axiom, it still represents a freedom of-sorts. Either way, as the mullet-sporting Lawrence might say: “F*ckin’-A.”

To Kill a Mockingbird (1962).

The reason for this inclusion is simple: equal freedom and justice for all — the heart, soul, and head of libertarianism.

Star Wars (1977).

A rag-tag group of “rebel” freedom-fighters voluntarily join together to fight the evil “empire” – The State. Good (freedom) versus evil (force — The State). Good wins. “The Force” is not force at all, but rather voluntary, cooperative action directed toward the ends of freedom, peace, and prosperity. “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…” is right here, right now. Time to “restore freedom to the galaxy…”

Election (1999).

Director Alexander Payne’s dark comedy skewers American culture and politics. The story centers on a high school election for student body president, and touches on the soul-stifling conformity of compulsory education, bureaucracy, and suburbia. Mathew Broderick plays an uninspired and restless civics teacher overseeing the election, giving a wink to the possible decades-on fate of his once-youthful and innovative character Ferris Bueller. And Jessica Campbell’s Tammy summons a libertarian message, delivering an honest mockery of the proceedings to a packed gymnasium. She might as well be addressing the current political class in DC.

A Bug’s Life (1998).

This from Pixar, is a spin on Aesop’s Fable – The Ant and the Grasshopper. A Bug’s Life stands as a cautionary tale against the evils of socialism. The productive ants work hard all year, storing for winter. The grasshoppers produce nothing, then come to forcibly confiscate the fruits of the ants’ labor. Many Americans have increasingly learned to do likewise through the voting booth. Our politicians have been doing it far longer. Watch the clip. See the grasshoppers as the parasitic politicians, and the ants as the American taxpayers. This is what your politicians on both sides of the aisle truly think of you: “Those puny little ants outnumber us 100 to 1, and if they ever figure that out, there goes our way of life!”

Dr. Strangelove or How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Bomb (1964).

Libertarian in that it illustrates the absurdity of men scheming to kill men. Stanley Kubrick at his best. A satire of power, the Cold War, the existential madness of the burgeoning military-industrial complex, and nuclear annihilation. America’s “leaders” ironically sum their own absurdity: “Gentleman, you can’t fight in here, this is the War Room.” Also, Slim Pickens rides a nuclear bomb like Seabiscuit.

V for Vendetta (2005).

This film, released in the midst of W’s military adventures and assaults on civil liberties, offers a blistering critique of The State. Under Obama, it’s urgency has grown. V is speaking directly to you, right here, right now: “…there is something terribly wrong with this country, isn’t there? Cruelty and injustice, intolerance and oppression. And where once you had the freedom to object, to think and speak as you saw fit, you now have censors and systems of surveillance coercing your conformity and soliciting your submission. How did this happen? Who’s to blame? …if you’re looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror. I know why you did it. I know you were afraid. Who wouldn’t be? War, terror, disease. There were a myriad of problems which conspired to corrupt your reason and rob you of your common sense…” It must be noted though, that the anarchic V’s acts of “terror” are not in accordance with the libertarian Nonaggression Axiom. And, many libertarians look far more favorably on secession and independence than revolution, which historically replaces tyranny with more tyranny.

The timeless wisdom of Clint Eastwood’s Josie Wales: “Governments don’t live together. People live together. Governments don’t give you a fair word or a fair fight. I’ve come here to give you either one. Or get either one from you… I’m saying that men can live together without butchering one another…”

All Quiet on the Western Front (1930).

Considered by many to be the greatest anti-war film of all time, which makes it one of the greatest libertarian films of all time. Offers a sobering critique of warfare-state nationalism and institutionalized propaganda. The WW1 era teacher implores his students: “Sweet and fitting it is to die for the fatherland.” Lew Ayres’ Paul comes back from the front, confronting his former teacher with a heart-wrenching argument to the contrary.

What do you think of the libertarian merits of these 10 films? Feel free to comment and let me know what films I missed.

Ron Paul to Hold Major Rally in Tampa Ahead of RNC

LAKE JACKSON, Texas – 2012 Republican Presidential candidate Ron Paul will hold a major rally with thousands of supporters ahead of the Republican National Convention in Tampa.

The event will take place at noon on Sunday, August 26th at the University of South Florida’s 11,000-seat Sun Dome. Yesterday the Ron Paul campaign signed a contract to secure the venue with the approval of the Republican National Committee.

The credentials fight you and I were expecting to have in Tampa has already started.

The Committee on Contests recently issued a ruling on the establishment’s challenge to Ron Paul’s delegates and alternates who were duly elected in Maine, and on our challenges to the outright cheating that occurred in Louisiana, Massachusetts, and Oregon (alternates only).

Despite Ron Paul’s supporters being so clearly in the right in these four states, the establishment is so far refusing to rule fairly and seat our duly elected delegates and/or alternates.

Here’s a brief summary of the bogus challenge made by the GOP establishment against us in Maine, as well as our challenges to the cheating that occurred elsewhere:

*** In Maine, where Ron Paul supporters held a clear majority at the State Convention, the establishment is attempting to unseat the state’s duly elected delegates and alternates – acting like sore losers in the process. The challenge to our delegates in Maine is so bogus that Republican Governor Paul LePage – who is one of the few delegates not being challenged by the establishment – has declared he will not attend the Republican National Convention unless Ron Paul’s delegates and alternates who were duly elected are seated;

*** In Louisiana, establishment “big wigs” used threats, intimidation, and force – literally smashing the bones of one gentleman – to shut out Ron Paul supporters who had a clear majority at the State Convention;

*** In Oregon, the State Chairman blatantly ignored the votes of the Convention, taking it upon himself to replace the duly elected alternate delegates with an “appointed” slate chocked-full of establishment cronies;

*** In Mitt Romney’s home state of Massachusetts, corrupt Party officials changed the rules after the game was over – kicking out Ron Paul’s duly elected delegates and alternates and replacing them with their hand-picked cronies.

As you can see, the Old Guard establishment doesn’t care about cheating, lying, abuse of process, and high-handedness in our Party.

All they seem to care about is maintaining their iron grip over the Republican Party.

But Ron Paul’s number-one goal for the RNC is making sure his delegates and alternates who deserve to be seated in Tampa are credentialed.

So if the establishment wants a fight in Tampa, rest assured we’re going to give them one.

Currently, our campaign lawyers and staff are furiously working to analyze and craft the appropriate response to the Committee’s rulings, and we’ll be sure to keep you informed as we move forward in the process.

And believe me, we will not sit idly by and watch the establishment run roughshod over Ron Paul’s supporters who were illegally railroaded by the GOP.

We will stand up and fight for all of Ron Paul’s delegates and/or alternates in these four states – and we will not back down.

Of course, one would think the Romney campaign would want these conflicts resolved so they didn’t become major issues at the Convention.

But so far they’ve sat idly by on the sidelines.

Hopefully they’ll change their do-nothing approach once they realize we’re serious about going all-out to win these credentials battles.

And remember, nearly 90 major media outlets have already reserved a spot at our “We are the Future Rally.”

So if the GOP goes through with these bogus challenges, they won’t be able to hide behind their iron curtain. They will be exposed by the press.

The good news is, the Committee on Contests’ ruling is not the final word in this fight.

The battle will be decided by the Credentials Committee in Tampa – where we are very organized and prepared to take action.

As the battle rages on over the next two weeks, I’ll be sure to keep you updated on our progress and any new developments that occur along the way.

We’ll also hear from some of our new leaders for the future, like State Senator Tom Davis in South Carolina and 21-year-old National Committeewoman Ashley Ryan from Maine.

As for entertainment, Jimmie Vaughan, Aimee Allen, Jordan Page, and John Popper of Blues Traveler with Ron Noyes will also provide live entertainment.

And to cap it all off, I’ll be delivering the speech the Republican National Convention doesn’t want the rest of America to hear.

After the rally, my delegates and alternates will be riding chartered buses to the RNC Welcome Reception at Tropicana Field.

This is our opportunity to show that we are the future of the Republican Party, so I’m asking all of my supporters who aren’t delegates and alternates to line the route with signs so our delegates can make a grand entrance.

2) Liberty Rocks After Party at Ferg’s Sports Bar and Grill

From 8:30 p.m. until 1 a.m. on Sunday, we’ll be hosting an after party and celebration at Ferg’s Sports Bar and Grill.

Aimee Allen, Jimmie Vaughan, and John Popper have been nice enough to agree to provide entertainment at this event, as well.

The Liberty Rocks After Party is open to everyone – not just delegates and alternates – so please come join us for a fun time Sunday night.

Stephen, Tampa is going to be a very fun and exciting time.

You and I are going to plant our liberty flag in the Republican Party and prove once and for all that WE are the future of the GOP.

But we’re also going to have a lot of fun and celebrate the success of my campaign to Restore America NOW.

That’s why I hope you’ll do everything possible to get down to Tampa and celebrate liberty with me and thousands of our campaign’s supporters.

But tickets are going fast, and space is limited.

So if you haven’t yet registered for the “We are the Future Rally,” it’s vital you do so now. You can register by clicking HERE.

// Last year in this column I wrote: “If you have not been paying attention, it is time to look around and realize that we are living in the political age of Rep. Ron Paul.”

The first section of the Wikipedia page entry for the Tea Party Movement even quotes a sentence from that column, where I argued the Tea Party dynamic that won the House majority for the GOP in 2010 “grew largely out of the ashes of (Paul’s) 2008 presidential campaign” by emphasizing “limited government and a return to constitutional principles.”

Now, the 76-year-old Texan is retiring at the end of this Congress after 12 terms in the House of Representatives.

During his latest run for the Republican presidential nomination, Paul tangled with Mitt Romney, particularly over civil liberties.

But unlike other candidates, he did not attack Romney harshly.

Paul and Romney remain friendly but Paul was never on the short list – or any other list – of people who were considered as Romney’s running mate.

Just last month, well after Romney had wrapped up enough delegates to win the Republican race, Paul continued to try to get enough unpledged GOP delegates to commit to vote for him so he could get his own name placed in nomination.

The idea was to give him a moment of national recognition at the Tampa convention and assure him one final platform before a national audience.

But the effort failed.

Now he will leave the national political scene quietly, although he probably had a hand in getting a coveted convention speech slot for his son, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky).

Sen. Paul may give his dad a final shout out from the podium .

Ron Paul deserves more.

In presidential debates, and until his last days in Congress, Paul has continued to stir revolution in the Republican Party by fighting the GOP establishment.

During the debates, Paul got Republican audiences to applaud his calls for legalization of drugs, ending criminalization of prostitution and getting American troops out of endless wars around the globe.

“Too long have I had my dwelling among those who hate peace [Centrist Republicans?]. I AM FOR PEACE but when I speak, THEY ARE FOR WAR!

His daring positions won raves from young people, a legion of online fans and contributors while reviving the libertarian wing of the GOP and forcing open the doors of the party to Tea Party energy.

Despite those accomplishments, the Republican establishment continues to treat Paul like a crazy uncle.

But Paul is a persistent politician.

Before the House adjourned for the August recess, Paul won a vote to have an audit of the Federal Reserve.

There has never been an audit of the Fed, and it is not likely to happen now because the bill is going nowhere in the Senate.

Still, that was a revolutionary act against Wall Street, the nation’s banking establishment and the Washington politicians they bankroll.

Every House Republican, except for one, voted for the bill. Eighty-nine Democrats broke with their party’s leadership and voted for it.

Paul has long argued that the Federal Reserve’s role in monetary policy is at the heart of the nation’s economic problems.

He made this a central part of his presidential campaign in 2008, and in 2012. He even authored a book called “End the Fed” in 2009.

The global financial scandal surrounding the manipulation of the LIBOR interest rates is causing some economic observers to take a second look at Paul’s critique of the Fed’s policies.

As a member of the House Financial Services Committee, Paul’s cross-examinations of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke have become very popular on YouTube, with some earning hundreds of thousands of views.

Paul got to question Bernanke one last time at a committee hearing last month and brought a rare passion to discussions of monetary policy.

“It’s the destruction of the currency that destroys the middle class,” he said. “There’s a principle of free market thinking that says (by) destroying the value of the currency through inflation, you transfer the wealth from the middle class and it gravitates to the very wealthy. If you like big government, (you) love the Fed.

Just as he took on the powers at the Federal Reserve, Paul has taken on the powerful and the rich who support unquestioned spending on the military budget.

Cutting the Pentagon’s budget was once dismissed as a lunacy by the political establishment, and especially Republicans. But it has become an increasingly popular position in Congress during Paul’s tenure.

A July survey from the Center for Public Integrity revealed that 80 percent of voters in congressional districts represented by Democrats favor lowering defense spending.

And in a tribute to the power of Ron Paul, 74 percent of voters in districts with Republican representatives now also say they want to lower the defense budget.

Paul’s colleagues in the House are reflecting this new attitude about defense spending. In a surprise move, the GOP-controlled House passed a defense appropriations bill in July that contained an amendment to reduce the military budget by $1.1 billion.

The amendment passed by a substantial majority, 247-167. Eighty-nine Republicans joined 158 Democrats voting in favor of it.

One of the amendment’s authors, Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-S.C.), even credits Paul with helping to shift the debate so that the amendment could be passed.

As he leaves the political scene, there is no doubt that cranky Ron Paul has made his mark on American politics.

We will be living in the age of Ron Paul for many years to come.

Juan Williams is an author and political analyst for Fox News Channel.

Here is my question: Who will Gingrich’s delegates go to: Romney or Paul? Last night, among the states holding primaries, FOX News showed Romney taking every primary held yesterday with Santorum second. Santorum? Hmmm. I thought he was out. Technically, the votes did go to Santorum, but in reality, the majority of his delegates that result from those votes, as well as Gingrich’s delegates, will go to Ron Paul.

FOX News will go all the way to hell before they’ll give the whole truth of the delegate race instead of the half-truths that they’ve been peddling. Why? Because FOX News supports Romney and wants Ron Paul to go away. Romney and FOX (Roger Ailes/Rupert Murdoch) simply want power to reside largely with the capitalist and military elite. That’s my belief. Ron Paul wants power to reside, constitutionally, with the people of our republic.

Paul wants capitalism and a strong military. He just doesn’t want them to co-opt power from the sovereign power of the people. So, FOX biases their reports in favor of Romney, while still, technically, giving facts. They just assemble the facts in a way that removes Ron Paul from their audience eye.

Ron Paul is not going away. His delegates are not going away. Romney’s not going away. Those on the right who would vote for Casper the friendly ghost before voting for Romney are not going away.

At the Republican Convention down the road in Tampa, it will all come down to a fight between Paul and Romney. FOX News will do everything possible to label Ron Paul as the spoiler who won’t compromise, who won’t support the party-line or who won’t just plain go away.

In the end, Paul will be heard out, even if he doesn’t get the nomination. He simply has too much support in the form of tangible delegates now that Santorum and Gingrich are out.